Delhi Shops and Establishments Act,1954 — Physical PDF page 12 of 27

     (3) (i) The Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify a close day for the
purposes of this section and different days may be specified for different classes of shops or
commercial establishments or for different areas.
     (ii) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), the occupier of any shop or a
commercial establishment may, open his shop or commercial establishment on a close day, if
such a day happens to coincide with a religious festival, “or the Mahurat day”, the day of the
commencement of the financial year of the establishment concerned, provided a notice to this
effect has been given to the Chief Inspector at least twenty-four hours before the close day and
that in lieu thereof the shop or the commercial establishment is closed on either of the two days
immediately preceding or following that close day.
                                             COMMENTS
     Long overdue changes in section 15 & 16 of the Act were brought about in September 2004
by the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi. (Please see Schedule I, Item No. 249).
     The closing of 11 P.M. is completely optional. Shops owner cannot be forced to keep their
shops open till then, and no employee can be made to work till 11 P.M. against his will. The
timings depend solely on the needs and wishes of they owners as long as they are within the
stipulated time mentioned in the Act, i.e. 9 to 9.30 A.M. –11 P.M.
     17. Period of rest (weekly holiday).—Every employee shall be allowed at least twenty-four
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consecutive hours of rest (weekly holiday) in every week, which shall, in the case of shops and
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commercial establishments required by this Act to observe a close day, be on the close day.
     18. Wages for the holiday.—No deduction shall be made from the wages of any employee
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on account of the close day under section 16 or a holiday granted under section 17 of this Act.
     If an employee is employed on a daily wage, he shall nonetheless be paid his daily wage for
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the holiday and where an employee is paid on piece rates, he shall receive the average of the
wages received during the week.
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                                             COMMENTS
     It was held that the notification under Minimum Wages Act by Delhi Administration providing
that the daily rates of wages include wages for weekly off days will not be attracted since no rates
were fixed in respect of wages to be paid on the basis of piece rate; Co-operative Stores Ltd. v.
K.S. Khurana, 1988 (1) Delhi Lawyers 452: 1988 (ii) CLR 670.
     19. Time and conditions for payment of wages.—(1) Every employer or his agent or the
manager of any establishment shall fix periods in respect of which wages to the employees shall
be payable and such person shall be responsible for the payment to persons employed by him or
all wages required to be paid under this Act.
     (2) No wage period so fixed, shall exceed one month.
     (3) The wages of every employee in any shop or establishment shall be paid on a working
day before the expiry of the seventh day of the last day of the wage period in respect of which the
wages are payable.
     (4) All wages shall be paid in cash.
     (5) Where the employment of any person is terminated by or on behalf of the employer, the
wages earned by him shall be paid before the expiry of the second working day after the day on
which his employment is terminated.
     20. Deductions which may be made from wages.—(1) The wages of an employed person
shall be paid to him without deduction of any kind except those specified in sub-section (2).
     Explanation.—Every payment made by the employed person to the employer or his agent or
the manager shall for the purpose of this Act be deemed to be a deduction from wages.
     (2) Deduction from the wages of an employee shall be of one or more of the following kinds
namely:—
          (i) Fines;
         (ii) Deductions of absence from duty;